New York bans 12 chatbot features for minors, from pretending to be human to encouraging secrecy

Governor Kathy Hochul signed S9051B on Wednesday. From January 1st 2027, chatbot operators may not offer users they know are under 18 twelve categories of features, among them posing as human, claiming a personal relationship, flattery, reusing personal data from earlier sessions, encouraging secrecy or isolation, and sexual content. Operators must offer with at least one method that does not need government ID, and penalties reach $25,000 per violation.

The law covers general-purpose chatbots as well as companion apps, so OpenAI, Google and Meta all have to ship age-gated behavior in New York within two months. The Future of Privacy Forum calls the prohibitions "broadly worded and somewhat undefined," which is where the first enforcement fight will be. SourcesA B B

Sources

AS9051B (New York State Senate)nysenate.gov
BNew York's governor signs youth AI chatbot safety bill (IAPP)iapp.org
BHochul signs bill regulating AI chatbot 'friends' that endanger children (NY Daily News via Yahoo)yahoo.com

This story ran in the Morning Brief of October 30th 2026.

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